Post by redsycorax on Jul 31, 2019 23:19:46 GMT
Many alternate Earths have experienced, or are experiencing, anthropogenic climate change. Earth-33 is probably one of the most dramatic cases, but on Earth-31, the absence of any environmental movement led to no brakes on the industrial revolution and cataclysmic climate change occurring in the early nineteenth century, resulting in a situation where most surviving human civilisations are seaborne and maritime. But Earth-998 is a particularly tragic case. This world began to diverge from the datum metaverse in the eighties and nineties- the Liberal Democrats replaced the British Labour Party as the main Opposition party and then government, the United Kingdom ran out of petrol from its North Sea wells, and Queen Elizabeth II abdicated. Charles III and Queen Diana assumed the throne- here, Prince Charles had never met Camilla Parker-Bowles and had never had the extramarital affair that destroyed the Wales' marriage and led to their divorce and Diana's subsequent death on some Earths, or Charles and Camillas, in others, both fleeing from intrusive paparazzi in Paris with a drunken chauffeur, who crashed into a tunnel support column. However, Earth-998's runaway unregulated genetic engineering technology, which had produced simian sapient low echelon workers, led to a red diatom algal bloom initially off the South American coast. This was no normal red tide, however, given that these mutated diatoms were neurotoxic. Atlantis' inhabitants and Aquaman died agonisingly. When Ray (The Atom) Palmer tried to disrupt the molecular bonds of the neurotoxins within the proliferating diatom bloom, he discovered the extent of its toxicity and strength of its engineered configuration- and also died. Stunned, the Justice League assembled on their satellite headquarters, but worse was to come. Acidic yellow clouds indicated that the neurotoxins were cascading through the foodchain, killing Hawkman and Hawkwoman when they flew through them unaware. They proved impervious to Wally West's superspeed as he tried to marshall a vortex to dispel them from over the mainland, their colouration meant Green Lantern's power ring was unable to destroy them, and even Kryptonian, Amazon and other advanced alien technology was unable to destroy either the escalating neurotoxic diatom bloom, or the proliferating toxicumulus clouds that devastated crops and poisoned the water table. Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Firestorm, J'onn J'onnz, Red Tornado, Superman and Wonder Woman were caught in the crossfire as conspiracy theories and militia terrorism targeted the Justice League's impotence, reframing it as unwillingness. Behind the Iron Curtain of the neofascist Soyuz junta that had overthrown Mikhail Gorbachev's reformist communism, Russians died in their millions.
++
As the Justice League watched 22,300 miles above the Earth, the sprawling red diatom bloom spread imperceptibly but steadily across the Atlantic. Already, signs of the deadly harbinger were spreading across the Indian Ocean and Pacific, as Wonder Woman gazed out and Superman cradled Lois Lane in his arms. All of the Justice League's married and long-term relationship partners and any children were now in their satellite headquarters:
"Nothing I can do is any good. I feel so damned powerless" Clark said.
"It's our fault, honey. You haven't slept for days."
"I don't need sleep, Lois. Bruce and Diana on the other hand..."
"I got a message from Washington. Steve...ingested some of the diatom neurotoxin. He died three hours ago."
"Oh Diana, no." Lois said softly. For all the Amazon's strength, little can heal a truly broken heart.
"What about Themiscyra, Diana?"
"Mother and my Amazon sisters are in another dimension. The city has transdimensional evacuation procedures for such cases. It was originally to be used if Patriarch's World set off a nuclear war. But there are limits to the mass that can be interdimensionally transferred. Who are we to play Solomon, or god?"
"Clark, what about Brainiac's shrinking ray technology?"
"It's been years since it was last used, so I tried it out on a deserted US town. The town disintegrated."
"What about the Legion of Super-Heroes, Clark? Do they have technology that might be imported downtime?"
Clark shook his head: "This event didn't happen in the Legion's timeline, Bruce. And I can't reach them due to timestream turbulence uptime, or communicate with them."
"Is this the result of outside malignant aliens, Clark?"
Superman shook his head: "I consulted the Fortress supercomputer. This fits neither existing data or extrapolated possible weaponised biotech from any adversarial civilisations."
"I see LexCorp's assisting you in this context."
Clark sighed: "Under the circumstances, Lex has called a truce until this crisis is over. He may be pathologically xenophobic, but even that malice has limits and he's decided that any animosity he feels toward me is less important than helping to save the world from this disaster."
"Yes, I know. LexCorp and Wayne Enterprises are trying to find a solution to this in a joint venture. I know no-one wants to hear it, but...casualty list."
"Who have we lost now, Bruce?"
"Metamorpho tried to use his elemental powers on it, but the neurotoxin even affected his metamorphae physiology. The Blackhawks bombarded it with herbicide but there was a backflame and they're gone. Rocket Red gave his life trying to dispell a toxicumulus cloudbank that was killing people in Leningrad. I'm just glad almost everyone we care for made it up here in time."
"Almost everyone." Clark said quietly, looking at the black-shrouded photograph of Jimmy Olsen who had tried to use experimental PROJECT technology against the deadly marine vegetation. His body had washed up three days later on Metropolis beach...or, what was left of the Daily Planet reporter. Lucy Lane still sat in her room, unable to deal with the surrounding world with the man she loved gone.
"Yes." Bruce noted, thinking of Alfred Pennyworth and his sacrifice as the diatom bloom flooded the Batcave.
"We may have to face the possibility that this time, the Justice League cannot save the world." Diana said, into sudden silence.
"No. I refuse to accept that. There must be something..."
"Merciful Minerva. How did we let this happen?"
"Is the 'Diatom Bloom" A Weaponised Kryptonian "Red Weed?"- Daily Investigator
"Kryptonian DNA? Did "Diatom Bloom" Originate in Kandor?"-Analyst Weekly.
Sadly, the above 'fake news' items on far right conspiracy websites meant that when Superman and the Justice League tried to offer assistance to people in the Southern United States, their offers of humanitarian aid and evacuation were refused outright. For a while, former Superman villains, other than Lex Luthor, were invited to reinforce such suicidal prejudices on right-wing talk shows. However, that only lasted for several weeks. One morning, their websites were down and cameras panned over images of their dead and fallen hosts sprawled across their couches, desks and chairs, with faces at ungainly angles and dribbles of vomit down their immaculate designer clothing. By then, however, the diatom bloom toxins had spread deep into the Southern United States. Other nations responded more positively- Canada prohibited such websites or television content, as did Australia, China, Japan, Western Europe and New Zealand. Out in the asteroid belt, Superman, Supergirl, J'onn J'onnz, Firestorm, the Flash and Green Lantern worked unceasingly. Little by little, starships arrived in Earth orbit and those few areas not afflicted by the blood red seas and toxicumulus cloud fronts ferried up individuals and families who could survive the growing pall that was poisoning Earth.
Inevitably, there were further casualties. Two of them were Green Arrow and Black Canary, who were targeted in a deadly crossfire in Libya as they sought to evacuate civilians and protect them from Muammar Ghadaffi's regime. In his palace, the dictator displayed the bullet-riddled bodies of the two heroes, but at least they did not die in vain. The day after, there was a nationwide revolution against the regime and it collapsed. China's Communist Party insisted on its own sovereignty over the evacuation process, however, and the Justice League did not resist that.
Altogether, about five hundred million survivors were spared from the ruin of their homeworld. Later, as they watched from the transferred environs of Westminster Abbey in the British starship of the evacuation fleet as King Charles III and Queen Diana were crowned, Superman gazed out at the dwindling, increasingly crimson world that he had loved and protected for so many years. It now glowered a lethal, poisonous blood scarlet as the poison worked its way into the land and atmosphere. It would be many centuries before humanity could return there. It survived, and the sacrifice and valour of its heroes were commemorated for many centuries afterward.
THE END
++
As the Justice League watched 22,300 miles above the Earth, the sprawling red diatom bloom spread imperceptibly but steadily across the Atlantic. Already, signs of the deadly harbinger were spreading across the Indian Ocean and Pacific, as Wonder Woman gazed out and Superman cradled Lois Lane in his arms. All of the Justice League's married and long-term relationship partners and any children were now in their satellite headquarters:
"Nothing I can do is any good. I feel so damned powerless" Clark said.
"It's our fault, honey. You haven't slept for days."
"I don't need sleep, Lois. Bruce and Diana on the other hand..."
"I got a message from Washington. Steve...ingested some of the diatom neurotoxin. He died three hours ago."
"Oh Diana, no." Lois said softly. For all the Amazon's strength, little can heal a truly broken heart.
"What about Themiscyra, Diana?"
"Mother and my Amazon sisters are in another dimension. The city has transdimensional evacuation procedures for such cases. It was originally to be used if Patriarch's World set off a nuclear war. But there are limits to the mass that can be interdimensionally transferred. Who are we to play Solomon, or god?"
"Clark, what about Brainiac's shrinking ray technology?"
"It's been years since it was last used, so I tried it out on a deserted US town. The town disintegrated."
"What about the Legion of Super-Heroes, Clark? Do they have technology that might be imported downtime?"
Clark shook his head: "This event didn't happen in the Legion's timeline, Bruce. And I can't reach them due to timestream turbulence uptime, or communicate with them."
"Is this the result of outside malignant aliens, Clark?"
Superman shook his head: "I consulted the Fortress supercomputer. This fits neither existing data or extrapolated possible weaponised biotech from any adversarial civilisations."
"I see LexCorp's assisting you in this context."
Clark sighed: "Under the circumstances, Lex has called a truce until this crisis is over. He may be pathologically xenophobic, but even that malice has limits and he's decided that any animosity he feels toward me is less important than helping to save the world from this disaster."
"Yes, I know. LexCorp and Wayne Enterprises are trying to find a solution to this in a joint venture. I know no-one wants to hear it, but...casualty list."
"Who have we lost now, Bruce?"
"Metamorpho tried to use his elemental powers on it, but the neurotoxin even affected his metamorphae physiology. The Blackhawks bombarded it with herbicide but there was a backflame and they're gone. Rocket Red gave his life trying to dispell a toxicumulus cloudbank that was killing people in Leningrad. I'm just glad almost everyone we care for made it up here in time."
"Almost everyone." Clark said quietly, looking at the black-shrouded photograph of Jimmy Olsen who had tried to use experimental PROJECT technology against the deadly marine vegetation. His body had washed up three days later on Metropolis beach...or, what was left of the Daily Planet reporter. Lucy Lane still sat in her room, unable to deal with the surrounding world with the man she loved gone.
"Yes." Bruce noted, thinking of Alfred Pennyworth and his sacrifice as the diatom bloom flooded the Batcave.
"We may have to face the possibility that this time, the Justice League cannot save the world." Diana said, into sudden silence.
"No. I refuse to accept that. There must be something..."
"Merciful Minerva. How did we let this happen?"
"Is the 'Diatom Bloom" A Weaponised Kryptonian "Red Weed?"- Daily Investigator
"Kryptonian DNA? Did "Diatom Bloom" Originate in Kandor?"-Analyst Weekly.
Sadly, the above 'fake news' items on far right conspiracy websites meant that when Superman and the Justice League tried to offer assistance to people in the Southern United States, their offers of humanitarian aid and evacuation were refused outright. For a while, former Superman villains, other than Lex Luthor, were invited to reinforce such suicidal prejudices on right-wing talk shows. However, that only lasted for several weeks. One morning, their websites were down and cameras panned over images of their dead and fallen hosts sprawled across their couches, desks and chairs, with faces at ungainly angles and dribbles of vomit down their immaculate designer clothing. By then, however, the diatom bloom toxins had spread deep into the Southern United States. Other nations responded more positively- Canada prohibited such websites or television content, as did Australia, China, Japan, Western Europe and New Zealand. Out in the asteroid belt, Superman, Supergirl, J'onn J'onnz, Firestorm, the Flash and Green Lantern worked unceasingly. Little by little, starships arrived in Earth orbit and those few areas not afflicted by the blood red seas and toxicumulus cloud fronts ferried up individuals and families who could survive the growing pall that was poisoning Earth.
Inevitably, there were further casualties. Two of them were Green Arrow and Black Canary, who were targeted in a deadly crossfire in Libya as they sought to evacuate civilians and protect them from Muammar Ghadaffi's regime. In his palace, the dictator displayed the bullet-riddled bodies of the two heroes, but at least they did not die in vain. The day after, there was a nationwide revolution against the regime and it collapsed. China's Communist Party insisted on its own sovereignty over the evacuation process, however, and the Justice League did not resist that.
Altogether, about five hundred million survivors were spared from the ruin of their homeworld. Later, as they watched from the transferred environs of Westminster Abbey in the British starship of the evacuation fleet as King Charles III and Queen Diana were crowned, Superman gazed out at the dwindling, increasingly crimson world that he had loved and protected for so many years. It now glowered a lethal, poisonous blood scarlet as the poison worked its way into the land and atmosphere. It would be many centuries before humanity could return there. It survived, and the sacrifice and valour of its heroes were commemorated for many centuries afterward.
THE END